Under a budget approved by Derby’s Water Pollution Control Authority, sewer rates are staying the same but users will be hit in July with a $56 annual charge related to failing equipment.
The $2,455,159 budget was approved 3 – 0 Tuesday, with two members absent.
The budget carries a 1.3 percent increase in spending over the current year’s $2.4 million budget.
The $56 annual fee will go toward trucking away liquid sludge from the treatment plant.
WPCA Chairman John Saccu said the money is needed because an aging belt press is beyond its lifespan and could stop working at any moment.
The belt press takes in sewer sludge then, wrings liquid from the sludge.
The semi-dry sludge is then trucked away for final disposal.
If the belt press fails, the WPCA will have more liquid sludge to truck away, which means more trucks and more costs, WPCA officials said.
Truck trips would increase to roughly five to eight per day, as opposed to the current two to three per week.
WPCA Superintendent Lindsay King the belt press dates back to the 1970s, at least.
“The solids handling equipment, I’d say is in imminent danger of failing,” King said. “I doubt they are going to make six months, let alone a year.”
Replacing the belt press and some related equipment would cost about $5 million. The Derby WPCA says they don’t have the money to replace it outright — but it is on a list of projects as part of a long-delayed $24 to $30 million referendum to repair and upgrade the city’s long-neglected sewer system.
There is a chance the belt press won’t break. What happens then?
Saccu said the $56 fee will go toward replacing the equipment — assuming voters approve it as part of the referendum.
Saccu said the referendum delays are putting the WPCA in a tough spot. Something has to be done, he said.
Equipment he raised red flags about in the last few years is now failing or being held together with “duct tape and bubble gum.”
Saccu said the WPCA has to have contingency plans to deal with old, failing equipment.
However, WPCA member Robert Miani warned that his fellow members could be faced with an ugly situation when Derby sewer users get their bills in July.
Miani pointed out that the $56 charge is per unit, so multi-family home owners and apartment building owners will be hit especially hard.
Miani also predicted that the $56 charge will cause angry residents to reject the WPCA referendum, if and when it makes it to voters.
“If you hit somebody with this increase, you are going to negate the referendum,” Miani said.
WPCA member Carolyn Duhaime said that during information sessions on the referendum hosted by WPCA engineers in 2013, the public complained about the city’s lack of planning and maintenance when it came it the sewers.
City officials, though, have been afraid to pull the trigger when it comes to dealing with the long-festering problems. Duhaime said Derby can’t manage its neglected sewer infrastructure by being afraid to “offend people.”
No one wants to pay more money, but the WPCA has to do something, she said.
“No one likes to get an increase, but this is something that has to be done. We’re not hiding anything. Things haven’t been done since the 70s. It’s an unpopular choice to be proactive, but, you know what, we’re going to take that unpopular stance for the greater good,” Duhaime said.
Other Problems
Saccu also mentioned during the WPCA meeting Tuesday that he intends to talk to the Board of Aldermen about two other problems on the horizon.
First, the structure that houses underground equipment at a pump station near the intersection of Roosevelt Drive and Cemetery Avenue appears to be compromised.
Derby WPCA workers discovered three feet of water inside the underground structure.
“This is really concerning, because that is an indication that the underground dry well that has been in there for some 40 years or so is starting to deteriorate,” Saccu said.
Second, a pump station on Division Street recently failed during a heavy rainstorm.
Saccu said engineers will be examining the two pump stations to see how much it would cost to bypass the two systems as a precautionary measure.
“We have to have contingency plans. Otherwise, we are not being responsible,” Saccu said.
